Died on Monday, 22nd December – Famous Deaths

22/12/2025

Chris Rea, English singer-songwriter (born 1951)

Christopher Anton Rea was an English rock and blues singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He was known for his distinctive gravelly voice, slide guitar playing and music style blending soft rock with blues.

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22/12/2023

Leon Coates, English composer (born 1937)

Leon Coates (1937–2023) was an English composer, pianist and conductor who worked mostly in Scotland.

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22/12/2019

Ram Dass, American spiritual teacher and author (born 1931)

Ram Dass, also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and writer. His best-selling 1971 book Be Here Now, which has been described by multiple reviewers as "seminal", helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West. He authored or co-authored twelve more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).

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22/12/2018

Paddy Ashdown, British politician (born 1941)

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internationally, he is recognised for his role as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006, following his vigorous lobbying for military action against Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

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Simcha Rotem, last survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (born 1924)

Simcha Rotem was a Polish-Israeli veteran who was a member of the Jewish underground in Warsaw and served as the head courier of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB), which planned and executed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis. He was one of the last two surviving Jewish fighters in the Warsaw uprising.

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Herman Sikumbang, Indonesian guitarist (born 1982); casualty during 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami

Seventeen was an Indonesian pop rock band that was formed in 1999 in Yogyakarta by schoolmates Yudhi Rus Harjanto, Herman Sikumbang, Zulianto "Zozo" Angga, and Windu Andi Darmawan, all of whom were 17 when the group was formed. Vocalists Yohan "Doni" Saputro and Riefian "Ifan" Fajarsyah, and bassist M. Awal "Bani" Purbani joined the band at a later date.

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22/12/2017

Gonzalo Morales Sáurez, Costa Rican painter (born 1945)

Gonzalo Morales Sáurez was a Costa Rican painter. He studied in The San Fernando Academy in Madrid, Spain from 1970 to 1974. He is best known for his hyper-realistic works, and has exhibited his art in many museums and art galleries in Europe and the Americas.

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22/12/2016

Chad Robinson, Australian rugby league player (born 1980)

Chad Damian Robinson was an Australian professional rugby league footballer. Robinson spent several years in Australia's National Rugby League with the Parramatta Eels and the Sydney Roosters and a season with Super League side Harlequins RL.

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22/12/2015

Peter Lundblad, Swedish singer-songwriter (born 1950)

Gustaf Peter Lundblad was a Swedish singer and songwriter, well known for his 1986 song Ta mig till havet. Lundblad started his career in the band 'The most Remarkable Nailband' where Lasse Tennander appeared as songwriter. Later they started the band 'Duga' but Tennander left the band quickly. In 1978, Lundblad and Torbjörn wrote and recorded the song Who Will Comfort Toffle? which also is a children's book written by Tove Jansson. Together with Agneta Olsson, Lundblad competed in Melodifestivalen 1983 with the song Vill du ha mig efter gryningen.

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Freda Meissner-Blau, Australian activist and politician (born 1927)

Freda Meissner-Blau was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party.

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22/12/2014

John Robert Beyster, American physicist and academic (born 1924)

John Robert Beyster, often styled J. Robert Beyster, was an American scientist and entrepreneur, and the founder of Science Applications International Corporation. He was Chairman of the Board until his retirement in July 2004, and served as chief executive officer (CEO) until November 2003. Beyster's primary areas of interest were national security and nuclear reactor physics. Beyster also founded two nonprofit organizations to assist organizations considering employee ownership: the Beyster Institute and the Foundation for Enterprise Development.

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Christine Cavanaugh, American actress (born 1963)

Christine Josephine Cavanaugh was an American actress, who had a distinctive speaking style and provided the voice for a large range of mostly cartoon characters. She was the original voices of Chuckie Finster in Nickelodeon's Rugrats and the titular protagonists of Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory and Universal Pictures' live-action film Babe, respectively, as well as the voices of Gosalyn Mallard in Disney's Darkwing Duck, Bunnie Rabbot from DIC Entertainment's Sonic the Hedgehog television series, Marty Sherman in The Critic and Oblina in Nickelodeon's Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.

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Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (born 1944)

John Robert "Joe" Cocker was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright" and "Unchain My Heart", were recordings of songs written by other song writers, though he composed a number of songs for most of his albums as well, often in conjunction with songwriting partner Chris Stainton.

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Bernard Stone, American lawyer and politician (born 1927)

Bernard "Berny" L. Stone was alderman of the 50th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois from 1973 to 2011. The 50th Ward encompasses part of Chicago's far North Side and includes the West Ridge and Peterson Park neighborhoods. First elected to the Council in 1973, Stone was the second longest-serving alderman. His tenure spanned the terms of seven Mayors, from Richard J. Daley to Richard M. Daley. Stone was also Vice Mayor of the City of Chicago from 1998 to 2011.

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22/12/2013

Diomedes Díaz, Colombian singer-songwriter (born 1956)

Diomedes Díaz Maestre was a Colombian vallenato singer and composer. He has been named the "King of Vallenato" and is nicknamed El Cacique de La Junta, which was given to him by another vallenato singer, Rafael Orozco Maestre, in honor of Díaz's birthplace. Diomedes is the greatest Colombian singer-songwriter of vallenato music and the biggest seller of records in that musical genre, surpassing 20 million copies.

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Hans Hækkerup, Danish lawyer and politician (born 1945)

Hans Hækkerup was a Danish politician who has served as a member of parliament (Folketing) for the Social Democratic party and as the Minister of Defence from 1993 to 2000 under Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

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Oscar Peer, Swiss author, playwright, and philologist (born 1928)

Oscar Peer was a Swiss novelist, playwright and philologist. His works were written in Romansch and German, and comprised epic novels, short stories, and drama. He was also well known for his Ladin-German dictionary.

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22/12/2012

Chuck Cherundolo, American football player and coach (born 1916)

Charles James Cherundolo Jr. was an American professional football player and coach. He played center and linebacker for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cleveland Rams, Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania.

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Ryan Freel, American baseball player (born 1976)

Ryan Paul Freel was an American professional baseball player. A utility player, Freel played second base, third base, and all three outfield positions in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays between 2001 and 2009.

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Cliff Osmond, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1937)

Cliff Osmond was an American character actor, screenwriter, and acting teacher.

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Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysian physician and politician (born 1939)

Lim Keng Yaik was a Malaysian politician and former Minister of Energy, Water and Communications in the Malaysian cabinet. He was the third president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) from 1980 until stepping down on 8 April 2007 to pave the way for Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. Just before his death, he was among the only four living Chinese with Tunship holders in Malaysia.

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22/12/2010

Fred Foy, American soldier and announcer (born 1921)

Frederick William Foy was an American radio and television announcer and actor. He is best known for his narration of The Lone Ranger. Radio historian Jim Harmon described Foy as "the announcer, perhaps the greatest announcer-narrator in the history of radio drama."

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22/12/2009

Luis Francisco Cuéllar, Colombian rancher and politician (born 1940)

Luis Francisco Cuéllar Carvajal was a Colombian politician, serving as Mayor of Morelia, Governor of the Caquetá Department from 2008 to 2009, and Deputy Governor of Caqueta from 2000 to 2003. He is known for being kidnapped and murdered by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and for being kidnapped and held for ransom four times.

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Albert Scanlon, English footballer (born 1935)

Albert Joseph Scanlon was an English footballer who played as an outside left. He began his career with Manchester United and was one of the "Busby Babes" who survived the Munich air disaster of 1958. Although he sustained severe injuries, he recovered and continued to play league football for Newcastle United, Lincoln City and Mansfield Town. He then went on to play non-league football until his retirement.

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22/12/2007

Charles Court, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Western Australia (born 1911)

Sir Charles Walter Michael Court was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 8 April 1974 to 25 January 1982. A member of the Liberal Party, Court was the member for Nedlands in the Parliament of Western Australia from 1953 to 1982. He held multiple portfolios during this time, including as the minister for industrial development from 1959 to 1971, when he became known for developing Western Australia's mining industry.

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Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and playwright (born 1932)

Adrian Empremiado Cristobal Sr. was a Filipino writer who frequently touched on political and historical themes. Perhaps best known to the public for his "Breakfast Table" newspaper column, he was also a Palanca Award–winning playwright, fictionist and essayist. He likewise held several positions in government during the administration of President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

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22/12/2006

Elena Mukhina, Russian gymnast (born 1960)

Elena Vyacheslavovna Mukhina was a Soviet gymnast who won the all-around title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France. Her career was on the rise, and she was widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979, when she broke a leg and missed several competitions. The rushed recovery from that injury, combined with pressure to master a dangerous and difficult tumbling move caused her to break her neck two weeks before the opening of the 1980 Summer Olympics, leaving her permanently quadriplegic.

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Galina Ustvolskaya, Russian composer (born 1919)

Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya, was a Russian composer of classical music.

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22/12/2004

Doug Ault, American baseball player and manager (born 1950)

Douglas Reagan Ault was an American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter who played for the Texas Rangers (1976) and Toronto Blue Jays. He is best known for hitting the first two home runs in Blue Jays history, in the team's first Major League Baseball (MLB) game on April 7, 1977, a 9–5 Toronto win against the Chicago White Sox.

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22/12/2002

Desmond Hoyte, Guyanese lawyer, politician and President of Guyana (born 1929)

Hugh Desmond Hoyte was a Guyanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Guyana from 1984 to 1985 and President of Guyana from 1985 until 1992.

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Joe Strummer, English singer-songwriter (born 1952)

John Graham Mellor, known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash.

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22/12/2001

Ovidiu Iacov, Romanian footballer (born 1981)

Ovidiu Nicolae Iacov was a Romanian footballer. During his career he played only for Steaua București.

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Walter Newton Read, American lawyer and second chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (born 1918)

Walter Newton "Bud" Read was an American lawyer and the second chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, from 1982 to 1989.

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22/12/1997

Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, Cuban-American dentist and activist (born 1931)

Sebastian Arcos Bergnes was a Cuban human rights activist. A prominent Cuban dissident, he was openly adversarial to the dictatorships of Fidel Castro and Fulgencio Batista.

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22/12/1996

Jack Hamm, American cartoonist and television host (born 1916)

Jack Beaumont Hamm was an American artist from Wichita, Kansas who is recognized both for his Christian-themed artwork and editorial cartoons, and for his books on drawing technique. He both studied and taught at the Frederic Mizen Academy of Art. As a cartoonist and comic strip letterer, he worked on the Bugs Bunny, Alley Oop, and Boots and Her Buddies comic strips before attending Baylor University to study theology. He taught at Baylor both before and after he graduated in 1948.

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22/12/1995

Butterfly McQueen, American actress and dancer (born 1911)

Butterfly McQueen was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen first appeared in films as Prissy in Gone with the Wind (1939). She also appeared in the films Cabin in the Sky (1943), Mildred Pierce (1944), and Duel in the Sun (1946).

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James Meade, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907)

James Edward Meade FBA was a British economist who made major contributions to the theory of international trade and welfare economics. Along with Richard Kahn, James Meade helped develop the concept of the Keynesian multiplier while participating in the Cambridge circus. In the 1930s, he served as specialist adviser on behalf of the British government at the Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations.

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22/12/1993

Don DeFore, American actor (born 1913)

Donald John DeFore was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom Hazel from 1961 to 1965, the former of which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

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22/12/1992

Harry Bluestone, English violinist and composer (born 1907)

Harry Bluestone was an English-American composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with Emil Cadkin. Earlier on, he was a violinist and freelanced on radio in the 1930s with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and the Dorsey Brothers. Some of his compositions were also featured on APM Music.

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Frederick William Franz, American religious leader (born 1893)

Frederick William Franz was a president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, the legal entity used to administer the work of Jehovah's Witnesses. He had previously served as vice-president of the same corporation from 1945 until 1977 when he replaced Nathan H. Knorr as president. His position was administrative, as the Governing Body assumed control of all Jehovah's Witness corporations in 1976. He remained president until his death in 1992.

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22/12/1989

Samuel Beckett, Irish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906)

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish playwright, poet, novelist, and literary critic. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical works feature bleak, impersonal, and tragicomic episodes of life, coupled with black comedy and literary nonsense. Beckett is widely regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century, credited with transforming modern theatre. As a major figure of Irish literature, he is best known for his tragicomedy play Waiting for Godot (1953). For his foundational contribution to both literature and theatre, Beckett received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation."

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22/12/1988

Chico Mendes, Brazilian trade union leader and activist (born 1944)

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader, and environmentalist who fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and Indigenous people. He was assassinated by a hired killer on 22 December 1988. The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, a body under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, is named in his honour.

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22/12/1987

Luca Prodan, Italian-Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1953)

Luca George Prodan was an Italian–Scottish musician and singer, best known as lead vocalist of the influential Argentine alternative rock band Sumo. He is widely considered one of the country's most important artists.

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22/12/1986

Mary Burchell, English author and activist (born 1904)

Ida Cook was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and, as Mary Burchell, a romance novelist.

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David Penhaligon, Cornish Liberal Politician (born 1944), Member of Parliament (MP) for Truro (1974–1986)

David Charles Penhaligon was a British politician from Cornwall who was Liberal Member of Parliament for Truro from October 1974 until his death in 1986. He was a popular figure in all parties, and was seen by many as a potential future front-runner for the party leadership until his sudden death in a traffic collision.

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22/12/1985

D. Boon, American singer and musician (born 1958)

Dennes Dale Boon, commonly known as D. Boon, was an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and songwriter of the punk rock trio Minutemen.

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22/12/1979

Darryl F. Zanuck, American director and producer (born 1902)

Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. Best known as a co-founder of 20th Century Fox, he played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors. Zanuck produced three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture and won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award twice, the only person to receive more than one.

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22/12/1974

Sterling North, American author and critic (born 1906)

Thomas Sterling North was an American writer. He is best known for the children's book Rascal, a bestseller in 1963.

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Carlos Alberto Sacheri, Argentinian philosopher (born 1933)

Carlos Alberto Sacheri was an Argentine Thomist philosopher and scholar. He was murdered in front of his family by ERP members on 22 December 1974 in Buenos Aires; he was targeted because of his perceived anticommunism. He was a disciple of the priest Julio Meinvielle. The most widespread of his publications was The Clandestine Church (1971), a denunciation of modernism and liberation theology from traditional positions.

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22/12/1971

Godfried Bomans, Dutch journalist and author (born 1913)

Godfried Jan Arnold Bomans was a Dutch author and television personality. Much of his work remains untranslated into English.

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22/12/1969

Enrique Peñaranda, 45th President of Bolivia (born 1892)

Enrique Peñaranda del Castillo was a Bolivian general who served as the 38th president of Bolivia from 1940 until his overthrow in 1943. He previously served as commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces during the second half of the Chaco War (1932–1935).

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22/12/1968

Raymond Gram Swing, American journalist (born 1887)

Raymond Gram Swing was an American print and broadcast journalist. He was one of the most influential news commentators of his era, heard by people worldwide as a leading American voice from Britain during World War II. Known originally as Raymond Swing, he adopted his wife's last name in 1919 and became known as Raymond Gram Swing.

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22/12/1965

Richard Dimbleby, English journalist (born 1913)

Frederick Richard Dimbleby was an English journalist and broadcaster who became the BBC's first war correspondent and then its leading TV news commentator.

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22/12/1962

Ross McLarty, Australian politician, 17th Premier of Western Australia (born 1891)

Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, was an Australian politician and the 17th Premier of Western Australia.

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22/12/1960

Ninian Comper, Scottish-English architect (born 1864)

Sir John Ninian Comper was a Scottish-born architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects.

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22/12/1959

Gilda Gray, Polish-American actress and dancer (born 1901)

Gilda Gray was a Polish-American dancer and actress who popularized a dance called the "shimmy" which became fashionable in 1920s films and theater productions.

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22/12/1957

Frank George Woollard, English engineer (born 1883)

Frank George Woollard was a British mechanical engineer who worked for nearly three decades in the British motor industry in various roles in design, production, and management. He was a pioneer in flow production, what is better known as the "Toyota Production System", but whose work has been forgotten.

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22/12/1950

Frederick Freake, English polo player (born 1876)

Sir Frederick Charles Maitland Freake, 3rd Baronet was a British polo player in the 1900 Summer Olympics and in the 1908 Summer Olympics.

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22/12/1944

Harry Langdon, American actor, comedian, and vaudevillian (born 1884)

Henry Philmore "Harry" Langdon was an American actor and comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films, and talkies.

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22/12/1943

Beatrix Potter, English children's book writer and illustrator (born 1866)

Helen Beatrix Heelis, usually known as Beatrix Potter, was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was her first commercially published work in 1902. Her books, including The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck and The Tale of Tom Kitten, have sold more than 250 million copies. An entrepreneur, Potter was a pioneer of character merchandising. In 1903, Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy, making him the oldest licensed character.

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22/12/1942

Franz Boas, German-American anthropologist and linguist (born 1858)

Franz Uri Boas was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical particularism and cultural relativism.

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22/12/1941

Karel Hašler, Czech actor, director, composer, and screenwriter (born 1879)

Karel Hašler was a Czech songwriter, actor, lyricist, film and theatre director, composer, writer, dramatist, screenwriter and cabaretier. He was murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

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22/12/1940

Nathanael West, American author and screenwriter (born 1903)

Nathanael West was an American writer and screenwriter. He is remembered for two darkly satirical novels: Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and The Day of the Locust (1939), set respectively in the newspaper and Hollywood film industries.

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22/12/1939

Ma Rainey, American singer (born 1886)

Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was an American blues singer and influential early-blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers. Rainey was known for her powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a "moaning" style of singing. Her qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings "Bo-Weevil Blues" and "Moonshine Blues".

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22/12/1925

Amelie Beese, German pilot and engineer (born 1886)

Amelie Hedwig Boutard-Beese, also known as Melli Beese, was the first female German pilot, qualifying in 1911, as well as the first such aircraft engineer. Together with Lilly Steinschneider and Marie Marvingt, she is considered one of the first female pioneers of aviation. To get there, however, she had to overcome many obstacles and fight the male-dominated bastion.

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Frank Munsey, American publisher, banker, political financier and author (born 1854)

Frank Andrew Munsey was an American newspaper and magazine publisher, banker, political financier and author. He was born in Mercer, Maine, but spent most of his life in New York City. The village of Munsey Park, New York, is named for him, along with The Munsey Building in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, at the southeast corner of North Calvert and East Fayette Streets.

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22/12/1924

Karl Denke, German serial killer and cannibal (born 1860)

Karl Denke was a German serial killer and cannibal who killed and cannibalized dozens of homeless vagrants and travellers from 1903 to 1924. He has been nicknamed the Cannibal of Münsterberg and the Forgotten Cannibal.

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22/12/1919

Hermann Weingärtner, German gymnast (born 1864)

Otto Ludwig Hermann Weingärtner was a German gymnast.

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22/12/1918

Aristeidis Moraitinis, Greek lieutenant and pilot (born 1891)

Aristeidis Moraitinis was a Greek naval officer and pioneer of naval aviation. He participated in the first naval-air mission in history during the Balkan Wars and became the only Greek flying ace of World War I, with nine aerial victories.

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22/12/1917

Frances Xavier Cabrini, Italian-American nun and saint (born 1850)

Frances Xavier Cabrini, also known as Mother Cabrini, was a prominent Italian-American religious sister in the Catholic Church. She was the first American to be recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint.

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22/12/1915

Rose Talbot Bullard, American medical doctor and professor (born 1864)

Rose Talbot Bullard was an American physician and medical school professor, who was elected president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association in 1902.

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22/12/1902

Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German-Austrian psychiatrist and author (born 1840)

Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work Psychopathia Sexualis (1886).

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22/12/1899

Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Publishers (born 1837)

Dwight Lyman Moody, also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers. One of his most famous quotes was "Faith makes all things possible... Love makes all things easy." Moody gave up his lucrative boot and shoe business to devote his life to revivalism, working first in the Civil War with Union troops through YMCA in the United States Christian Commission. In Chicago, he built one of the major evangelical centers in the nation, which is still active. Working with singer Ira Sankey, he toured the country and the British Isles, drawing large crowds with a dynamic speaking style.

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22/12/1891

Paul de Lagarde, German biblical scholar and orientalist (born 1827)

Paul Anton de Lagarde was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest orientalists of the 19th century. Lagarde authored dozens of books, many on politics. His anti-Semitism, anti-Slavism, and aversion to traditional Christianity were influential precursors of Nazism.

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22/12/1884

John Chisum, American cattle baron (born 1824)

John Simpson Chisum was a wealthy cattle baron on the frontier in the American West in the mid-to-late 19th century. He was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, and moved with his family southwest across the Mississippi River to the newly independent Republic of Texas the year after the Texas Revolution in 1837, later finding work as a building contractor. He also served as a county clerk in Lamar County, Texas. He was of Scottish, English, and Welsh descent.

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22/12/1880

George Eliot, English novelist and poet (born 1819)

Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1862–1863), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–1872) and Daniel Deronda (1876). Like Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, she emerged from provincial England, where most of her works are set. Her novels are known for their realism, psychological insight, sense of place, and detailed depiction of the countryside. Middlemarch was described by the novelist Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people" and by Martin Amis and Julian Barnes as the greatest novel in the English language.

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22/12/1870

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish journalist, poet, and playwright (born 1836)

Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida, better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, was a Spanish Romantic poet and writer, also a playwright, literary columnist, and talented in drawing. He is one of the most important figures in Spanish literature, with some considering him the most read Spanish writer after Miguel de Cervantes. He adopted the alias of Bécquer as his brother Valeriano Bécquer, a painter, had done earlier. He was associated with the romanticism and post-romanticism movements and wrote while realism enjoyed success in Spain. He was moderately well-known during his life, but it was after his death that most of his works were published. His best-known works are the Rhymes and the Legends, usually published together as Rimas y leyendas. These poems and tales are essential to studying Spanish literature and common reading for high-school students in Spanish-speaking countries.

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22/12/1867

Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer (born 1788)

Jean-Victor Poncelet was a French engineer and mathematician who served most notably as the Commanding General of the École Polytechnique. He is considered a reviver of projective geometry, and his work Traité des propriétés projectives des figures is considered the first definitive text on the subject since Gérard Desargues' work on it in the 17th century. He later wrote an introduction to it: Applications d'analyse et de géométrie.

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22/12/1853

Manuel María Lombardini, Mexican general and politician. President (1853) (born 1802)

Manuel Apolinario Josef María Ignacio Antonio Lombardini de la Torre (1802–1853) was a Mexican soldier who served as president briefly for about three months in 1853. He rose to power in the wake of a revolution against the government of President Mariano Arista. After Arista and his successor Juan Bautista Ceballos resigned, the insurgents elevated Lombardini to the presidency as a matter of convenience, and he was only ever meant to serve as a placeholder while the true aim of the insurgents, the restoration of Santa Anna, was carried out. Lombardini would resign accordingly on 20 April, and he died of pneumonia in December of the same year.

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22/12/1828

William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist and physicist (born 1766)

William Hyde Wollaston was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium. He also developed a way to process platinum ore into malleable ingots, patented the camera lucida, and made contributions in electricity and spectroscopy.

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22/12/1806

William Vernon, English-American merchant (born 1719)

William Vernon, of Newport, Rhode Island, was a merchant in the Atlantic slave trade who played a leading role in the Continental Congress' maritime activities during the American Revolution. In 1774, Vernon was member of the committee of correspondence between Newport and Boston. As president of the Eastern Navy Board during the Revolution, he was responsible for building and outfitting the ships of the Continental Navy. William Vernon was one of the charter members of the Artillery Company of Newport, and is the namesake of the Vernon House.

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22/12/1788

Percivall Pott, English physician and surgeon (born 1714)

Percivall Pott was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen, namely chimney sweeps' carcinoma. Many diseases are his namesake including Pott's fracture, Pott's disease of the spine, and Pott's puffy tumour. It is believed that Pott's standard of living contributed to the rise of the surgeon within social standings.

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22/12/1767

John Newbery, English publisher (born 1713)

John Newbery, considered "The Father of Children's Literature", was an English publisher of books who first made children's literature a sustainable and profitable part of the literary market. He also supported and published the works of Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Johnson. In recognition of his achievements the Newbery Medal was named after him in 1922.

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22/12/1681

Richard Alleine, English minister and author (born 1611)

Richard Alleine was an English Puritan divine.

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22/12/1666

Guercino, Italian painter (born 1591)

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as (il) Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner contrasts with the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.

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22/12/1660

André Tacquet, Flemish priest and mathematician (born 1612)

André Tacquet was a Brabantian mathematician and Jesuit priest. Tacquet adhered to the methods of the geometry of Euclid and the philosophy of Aristotle and opposed the method of indivisibles.

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22/12/1646

Petro Mohyla, Ruthenian metropolitan and saint (born 1596)

Petro Mohyla or Peter Mogila was the Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Eastern Orthodox Church from 1633 to 1646.

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22/12/1641

Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, 2nd Prime Minister of France (born 1560)

Maximilien de Béthune Sully, 1st Prince of Sully, Marquis of Rosny and Nogent, Count of Muret and Villebon, Viscount of Meaux was a French nobleman, soldier, statesman, and counselor of King Henry IV of France. Historians emphasize Sully's role in building a strong, centralized administrative system in France using coercion and highly effective new administrative techniques. While not all of his policies were original, he used them well to revitalize France after the European wars of religion. Most, however, were repealed by later monarchs who preferred absolute power. Historians have also studied his Neostoicism and his ideas about virtue, prudence, and discipline.

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22/12/1603

Mehmed III, Ottoman sultan (born 1566)

Mehmed III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the Long Turkish War, during which the Ottoman army was victorious at the Battle of Keresztes. This victory was however undermined by some military losses such as in Győr and Nikopol. He also ordered the successful quelling of the Jelali rebellions. The sultan also communicated with the court of Elizabeth I on the grounds of stronger commercial relations and in the hopes of England to ally with the Ottomans against the Spanish.

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22/12/1572

François Clouet, French miniaturist (born c. 1510)

François Clouet, son of Jean Clouet, was a French Renaissance miniaturist and painter, particularly known for his detailed portraits of the French ruling family.

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22/12/1554

Alessandro Bonvicino, Italian painter (born 1498)

Alessandro Bonvicino, more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia, was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His dated works span the period from 1524 to 1554, but he was already described as a master in 1516. He was mainly a painter of altarpieces that tend towards sedateness, mostly for churches in and around Brescia, but also in Bergamo, Milan, Verona, and Asola; many remain in the churches they were painted for. The majority of these are on canvas, but a considerable number, including some large pieces, are created on wood panels. There are only a few surviving drawings from the artist.

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22/12/1530

Willibald Pirckheimer, German lawyer and author (born 1470)

Willibald Pirckheimer was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, imperial counsellor and a member of the governing City Council for two periods. One of the most important cultural patrons of Germany in his own right, he was the closest friend of the artist Albrecht Dürer, who made a number of portraits of him, and a close friend of the great humanist and theologian Erasmus.

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22/12/1419

Antipope John XXIII

Baldassarre Cossa was Pisan antipope as John XXIII (1410–1415) during the Western Schism. The Catholic Church today regards him as an antipope in opposition to Pope Gregory XII, whom it recognizes as the rightful successor of Saint Peter. John XXIII was also an opponent of Benedict XIII, who was recognized by the French clergy and monarchy as the legitimate pope.

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22/12/1115

Olaf Magnusson, King of Norway (born 1099)

Olav Magnusson was king of Norway in 1103–1115. He was the son of King Magnus Barefoot and Sigrid, daughter of Saxe of Vik.

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22/12/1100

Bretislav II of Bohemia (born 1060)

Bretislaus II was the duke of Bohemia from 14 September 1092 until his death in 1100. He was the eldest son of King Vratislaus II and Adelaide, daughter of Andrew I of Hungary. He was a major enemy of paganism.

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22/12/1060

Cynesige, Archbishop of York

Cynesige was a medieval English Archbishop of York between 1051 and 1060. Prior to his appointment to York, he was a royal clerk and perhaps a monk at Peterborough. As archbishop, he built and adorned his cathedral as well as other churches, and was active in consecrating bishops. After his death in 1060, the bequests he had made to a monastery were confiscated by the queen.

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22/12/1012

Baha' al-Dawla, Buyid amir of Iraq

Abu Nasr Firuz Kharshadh, better known by his laqab of Baha al-Dawla was the Buyid amir of Iraq (988–1012), along with Fars and Kerman (998–1012). His early reign was dominated by struggles with his rival relatives over control of the western Persian provinces, but by 998 he managed to establish his supremacy over the Buyid confederation. His reign nevertheless saw the increasing encroachment of neighbouring powers on Buyid territory, and marks the beginning of the decline of the Buyids' power. He was the third son of 'Adud al-Dawla.

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22/12/0731

Yuan Qianyao, official of the Chinese Tang dynasty

Yuan Qianyao, formally the Duke of Anyang (安陽公), was a Chinese politician during the Tang dynasty, twice serving as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong.

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22/12/0069

Vitellius, Roman emperor (born 15)

AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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